When your University has thousands of students, research officers, faculty and administrative staff spread across four campuses, 10 R&D parks and start-up incubators and millions of dollars in funding and grants at stake, your process to evaluate new inventions for novelty, utility and commercial relevance better be rock-sound and drum-tight. And the more transparent, the better.

The Source360 Integrative Software Support Solution connects people, process, policy and intellectual property in a single technology system that is set in motion when a young inventor submits an invention disclosure form to signal its readiness for registration with the U.S. Patent Office.

The software system was developed to assure a consistent disclosure evaluation process across campuses, aid the university in developing patent and commercialization strategies, to make the evaluation process transparent and to keep stakeholders updated throughout the process.

A single repository of new ideas gathered, processed and stored independent of geography dramatically increases the amount of information available to make a decision on the viability and marketability of new inventions as well as formulate university policies and seek funding for future growth.

Keeping young inventors and faculty advisors in the loop as their ideas flow through a rigorous investigation and approval process has increased participation, trust and excitement. In addition, it enables the university to optimize the value of aggregate data and maximize the yield from the use of the university’s resources.